OPPD Listens

Omaha Renewable Project

OPPD, Creighton Partner on Solar, Wind Collectors

OPPD and Creighton University teamed up on an alternative energy project using a variety of solar and wind energy collectors. Components of the $2.6 million project, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, are located strategically throughout the Creighton campus. Along with providing 120 kW of renewable energy, Creighton students will use the new equipment as part of a new energy technology major.

The centerpiece of the project, built atop the Cuming Street parking lot, is an 85 kW solar array consisting of 100-foot and 300-foot long photovoltaic panels. The solar array, which will be the largest in the state of Nebraska, contains a number of solar energy systems along with an integrated weather monitoring station.

In addition, the project includes a 20.5 kW collection system of photovoltaic cells with a southern exposure atop the Kiewit Fitness Center. A third collector, capable of generating 8.2 kW, consists of four vertical-axis wind turbines placed at the southwest corner of the Lied Performing Arts Center.